1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a muffler of a vehicle, through which exhaust gas is finally discharged from the vehicle; and, particularly, to a horizontally installed muffler having a sporty tone, which divides a path of exhaust gas flowing inside the muffler according to the operating speed of an engine, thereby generating a sporty exhaust sound.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle includes a muffler for reducing an exhaust sound, which is generated according to the combustion of an engine, to the limit value or less. The muffler is connected to the engine and an exhaust pipe, and reduces noise of exhaust gas which is discharged from the engine after the combustion, while the exhaust gas passes through the muffler.
Meanwhile, most vehicles include a muffler which is manufactured in such a manner as to reduce operation noise as much as possible. However, vehicles such as coupes or sports cars, which are manufactured focusing on running performance, generates an exhaust sound having a unique sporty tone according to a running state such that a driver can feel the running performance through a sense of hearing, which is one of important market qualities.
For example, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional muffler which is disposed in the widthwise direction of a vehicle and includes tail pipes 150 of which the outlets are exposed to both sides of the muffler.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional muffler is connected to the rear end of an exhaust pipe 110, the front and rear ends of the muffler are disposed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction F of the vehicle, i.e., the widthwise direction of the vehicle, and the end of the exhaust pipe 110 is bent and connected to the front end of the muffler so as to introduce exhaust gas to the muffler.
FIG. 2 illustrates the internal structure of the conventional muffler. The conventional muffler includes a housing 120, a plurality of baffles 121 dividing the inside of the housing 120 into a plurality of chambers, an introduction pipe 141 connected to the exhaust pipe 110 and passing through the plurality of baffles 121, a pair of tail pipes 150 passing through the plurality of baffles 121 and discharging exhaust gas to the outside through both ends of the housing 120, and an intermediate pipe 142 disposed in parallel to the introduction pipe 141 and the tail pipes 150.
The above-described conventional muffler has a structure in which exhaust introduced to the muffler is passed only through one path to the tail pipes 150. Therefore, the conventional muffler cannot form a sporty exhaust sound.
Furthermore, since the end of the exhaust pipe 110 is bent to introduce exhaust gas into a side surface in the longitudinal direction F of the vehicle, back pressure may be increased to reduce the output of the vehicle.
Meanwhile, coupes or sports cars having a large engine displacement include a sound generator installed in a suction system, in order to generate a more sporty exhaust sound.
However, vehicles having a small engine displacement are difficult to be installed a separate sound generator due to layout. Thus, an exhaust system thereof absolutely contributes to generating a sporty exhaust sound. However, since vehicles having a small engine displacement have a relatively small number of cylinders, a combustion interval between the respective cylinders is longer than that of vehicles having a large engine displacement. Therefore, the pulsations of exhaust sounds are large, simple and not harmonic, which makes it difficult to generate sporty exhaust sounds.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.